CPT's: Idea! Start with a Spreadsheet?

I’ve started so many ideas only to make a mess out of all of them and ditch them all. I’ve had a ton of failures trying to implement Geotheme and now GeoDirectory. Usually it’s because I can’t make these tools do what I need them to do and I probably start off wrong. But, I’m thinking after years of trying eventually I’ll succeed? lol!

So, in an effort to test Version 2 out and salvage an old idea I’ve started http://www.ThingsToDoInNC.com (TTDINC). I say testing this out because my only other real GD project is VeganLinked.com. I’ve been holding off on VeganLinked though because I want to build it more on V2. I think TTDINC could potentially be more than a test site though. So, I’d like to start it off right.

I did a fresh install of everything two days ago. Today I installed the Extra theme by Elegant Themes. This is a very popular theme so I think it should work well with GD, “should, we’ll see”.

I’ve tried to create a directory out of TTDINC at least a couple of times over the years. Each time I get a little further. It’s been a while since the last attempt. I really don’t recall how I setup the Custom Post Types (CPT’s). That’s always the biggest hurdle to overcome initially.

This morning I was trying to think of the best way to set this up. It seems this is the most important step in getting a GD site off on the right track, that is getting the CPT’s.

I usually struggle with the “Place” default because I’m always like “do I really want a CPT that is place? If not, then do I just ignore this? If I just ignore this CPT will it be an issue later?”

The next thing I struggle with is deciding how to separate the site. Because the map only shows one CPT at a time. And it seems like there was some other things that make CPT’s completely exclusive from each other.

So, I’m trying to discern the best approach to organizing TTDINC. I know I want a CPT for “Places to Stay” like hotels, Bed & Breakfast, Resorts, and Cabins. And I know I want a CPT for “Food & Drink” however I’m not sure if it should include a lot of categories or not. For example, Coffee, Desserts, Bars, Catering, and Restaurants may be sufficient. But, I could easily imagine breaking it down even further into more specific categories like Pizza, Chinese, Thai, Barbeque, etc… Herein lies the delima that always seems to arise, wishing there was one more level of organization (CPT/Category/Subcategory). I know tags are an option but they’re not a good one as far as I can tell. I’ve found issues with using filters also because they don’t always show as an option on the front end; like when you use the advance search field the filter goes away.

TTDINC is about “Things To Do” so of course I should have things to do of course like attractions. This is where things really get complicated. This morning I thought maybe it would be best to start a spreadsheet and list potential places that are things to do. Then next to that quality what category they may be. Then next to that qualify further how it may be access from the front end.

As I was creating this spreadsheet I imagined it would be very easy to actually use this as a way to create a bunch of listings and then import them into the site. So, I’m wondering if you guys think this may be a good idea and how I may go about doing this. Is there a template that you have somewhere I can use with the basic information I need to use to start off a site like this? Or should I create one CPT and export a spreadsheet and build from that? Please share any other suggestions you may have. 🙂